ITER physics programme

EUROfusion’s ITER Physics programme is designed to coordinate experiments to gather as much physics knowledge as possible to ensure the efficient experimentation in ITER once it begins operations. Below are the main research topics tackled under the ITER Physics Programme.

JET Exploitation

Research on JET is carried out under the following themes: JET Experimental Campaigns, Investigation of Plasma-Facing Components for ITER, Technological Exploitation of Deuterium-Tritium Operation for the ITER preparation, and JET Enhancements.

Medium-Size Tokamak Campaigns

Experiments on medium-size tokamaks, namely ASDEX Upgrade, TCV and MAST Upgrade, complement the work at JET. They have unique experimental capabilities and flexibility and provide what is known as a step-ladder approach for extrapolations to ITER and DEMO.

Divertor Test Tokamak

The divertor is an area of a fusion reactor, where impurities from the reaction are removed. EUROfusion assess if a dedicated divertor tokamak test facility is necessary or if tests on specifically upgraded existing facilities will give sufficient clues to ITER and DEMO divertor requirements.

Plasma Facing Components

EUROfusion's work on plasma facing components focusses on development of neutron-resistant materials. The linear devices Magnum-PSI and JULE-PSI and the WEST tokamak are used for these experiments.

Stellarator Research

The stellarator is a possible long-term alternative to a tokamak fusion power plant. EUROfusion researchers explore Wendelstein 7-X to assess if the concept can reach the maturity required to be a possible design for a future fusion power plant.

JT-60SA Exploitation

JT-60SA, a super advanced tokamak currently being built by Europe and Japan, will start operation in 2019. JT-60SA aims to qualify steady state plasma regimes of operation for ITER.

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Acknowledgement

This work has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium and has received funding from the Euratom research and training program 2014-2018 under grant agreement No 633053. The views and options expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commision.